The Lightning Goldfish's Secret

Maya's goldfish, Goldie, wasn't like other fish. While other fish swam in lazy circles, Goldie darted around her bowl like she had somewhere important to be. One stormy afternoon, Maya watched Goldie press her nose against the glass, staring intently at Maya's iPhone on the desk nearby.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Maya whispered.

Suddenly, lightning flashed outside the window. At the same moment, the iPhone screen lit up with a message: "HELLO MAYA. I'M GOLDIE."

Maya gasped. "You can talk?"

"ONLY WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES," the message appeared. "I'M REALLY A LIGHTNING SPRITE FROM THE CLOUD KINGDOM. I NEED YOUR HELP."

The storm raged harder. Goldie explained through the phone that her magical lightning vitamins had been stolen by the Grumpy Cloud King, who wanted all the sky's sparkle for himself. Without her vitamins, Goldie couldn't return home.

"I'll help you!" Maya declared. She grabbed her flashlight — it had batteries with extra energy, almost like vitamins. "What do we do?"

"We need to fill my bowl with sparkly things that remind me of home," Goldie typed. "The lightning will hear me and come down."

Maya gathered her shiniest treasures: a birthday candle, a prism from her window, and her grandma's old brooch. She placed them around Goldie's bowl. Then she had an idea — she used her iPhone to play a video of thunderstorms she'd recorded last summer.

"NOW!" Goldie's message read. "MAKE A WISH!"

Maya squeezed her eyes tight. "I wish Goldie could go home and be happy!"

CRACK! The loudest thunder yet shook the house. A tiny bolt of lightning zipped through the window, swirled around Goldie's bowl, and — POOF! — Goldie transformed into a tiny, glowing creature made of pure light.

"Thank you, Maya!" Goldie's voice rang like tiny bells. She left behind one small, glittering scale on the desk. "This will always remind you that friendship is the strongest magic."

The iPhone screen went dark. The storm passed. But Maya knew, whenever lightning flashed across the sky, Goldie was dancing in the clouds, thinking of her friend below.

And sometimes, just sometimes, Maya's iPhone would light up with a simple message: "I MISS YOU TOO."